Kate Penn
Bobby Silverwood
teers. A special mention must be made for our two pairs of volunteer cooks, without whom I doubt we would have survived the week with such high spirits and full stomachs. Our introductions were made, dinner was served and the team had been formed ready to start work the next day. Saturday morning arrived and we travelled to site for the first time. The vast quantities of mud were a shock for the less experienced among us. There was lots of preparatory work to be done first: erecting fences around the gaping holes on site and clearing earth away from the settling tank walls. From there on the real work could commence: deconstructing the failed sections of wall and arches and cleaning the intact bricks ready to be used again. By Sunday the arches were beginning to be rebuilt and some of the remaining brickwork in the front wall of the settling tank was already being repointed. Monday saw marquees erected ready to protect the bricklayers as the rain came down. In the evening we were treated to an excellent presentation by Ray from the Wendover Arm Trust. For Tuesday afternoon three intrepid bricklayers and pointers stayed behind to continue working whilst the rest of us enjoyed a tour of the Chiltern Brewery. Wednesday lunchtime four young volunteers were given a break from work to have first lessons in operating an excavator, which were thoroughly enjoyed. Before we knew it, it was Thursday - our last day on site. The last courses of bricks were laid and our End-of-camp pic of the volunteers with the completed strapping lads wall and (below) two years ago before work began loaded the dumper with heavy kit for the last time. With our work completed we sat down together for a stunning meal courtesy of our cooks. All that was left to do was to visit the local pub once more, before finally heading exhausted to bed. Overall the camp has been a great success. We had a fantastic mixture of many different ages and backgrounds in our group, and I suspect many long friendships have been started over the week. We all had the satisfaction of doing good quality work, with lots of unexpected fun along the way. Thank you again to everyone involved! Claire Westrop
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